Silent Hill 2
by Urban Cowboy
Summary: I just got a letter from ny wife. Doesn't sound too interesting, huh? Well what would you say if I told you she died three years ago?


A Novelization of Silent Hill 2

Chapter 1

A Foggy Mystery

An easy way out, a way to cheat the truth, a shortcut, something to use to place the blame on something else, something to say when you tell your friend that he or she looks good in a piece of clothing even though he/she doesn't. No matter how you cut it, these are alternative names for lying.

Many people have debated over the years whether lying is evil or not. Some people use it for pity, others use it as some twisted game, but no matter what the intention, lying is never a way to win, and in many cases, just a way to lose. Without even knowing it, you plant the lie as a little seed but then it grows and grows until before you know it, you're standing in a forest of you own deceit. Only now you have to escape and do battle the creatures that where spawned in the process. Once caught in the web of lies, there is little chance that you will escape unscathed.

Am I a preacher? No, but in a matter of speaking I am a teacher. I just escaped from my own forest of lies and I was quite literally almost dragged down to the darkest depths of Hell on earth. Do I expect you to believe me? Frankly, no. But I do hope you'll at least take heed of the moral of my story. If you don't, well, I tried my best. What did I do? Why am I so fanatical against lying? Well, that begins with my tale, my experiences in Silent Hill. I can still remember the feeling of my worry-

-as I sighed and turned on the water tap, amazingly, water came out. This surprised me because if you were in this place with me, you would agree with me that this place clearly hasn't been cleaned since Nixon took office.

After washing my face, I turned the faucet off which surprise, surprise, it breaks. I shrug and focus on the man in the mirror, me. I suppose that I was fairly impressed with what I saw regarding my looks, yet I wished that I didn't wear my green jacket and blue jeans. I should have worn something much more formal, but because I left in such a hurry I didn't think ahead. It really was such a shame, after all, it's not everyday that you get to reunite with your dead wife.

I know, I know, you're probably thinking: "Oh God I'm listening to a wacko!" Or: "If your wife is dead, then why are you looking for her?" Well I agree that those are good questions so I'll explain myself and what has happened.

My name is Sunderland, James Sunderland and my wife Mary (Sunderland of course) has been dead for the past three years. At least that's the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I just got home from another dull and bland day of work to continue my dull and bland life at home. (No, I'm not suicidal; it is just that I've been in a state of mourning ever since my wife [supposedly] died.). I opened the mailbox and after sifting through the usual bills and crappy cell phone offers, I saw the fateful letter. The letter had 'Mary' written on the front and was in her handwriting. "But dead people can't write letters." I said to myself, yet I read the letter without hesitation. Real or not, it was going to be more interesting than my electricity bill. This is what it says: "In my restless dreams, I see that town, Silent Hill. You promised me you would take me there again someday, but you never did. Well, I'm alone there now, waiting for you in our "special place"".

"This can't be real, dead people can't write letters." Needless to say, this logic didn't stop me from coming. I kept telling myself that she's dead and been dead for the past three years, but that didn't stop me either. I can't explain it, but somehow, I felt _drawn_ to this town. Was it a weird feeling? You bet.

"'Special place?' What did she mean by that? This whole town was our special place." I said aloud.

Feeling tired of the decayed and useless pit stop, I walked outside, taking a look at the beautiful landscape. Even with all of the fog that was in the air, it was no surprise to me that Mary loved this place when she was alive, it was simply gorgeous. From the top of the hill, where I stood, I could see large forests of trees swaying in the light breeze. Nestled in a picture-perfect style was the lake which-

-"Oh course! Now I remember! The lake was our 'special place!'" I smiled to myself as I remembered the time first (and last) time we went to the city together. It was our, I think it was, our third anniversary and we had just checked into the Lake View Hotel when the manager told us about the local lake, Toluca Lake, and it being summer, we decided that it would be a great place to go to. It was. We spent the whole day, just the two of us, staring into the water. That was one of our best days of- well, I suppose I'm getting off track. Suffice to say, we had a great time and if I went into any more detail, you would get bored of all the mushiness.

With a plan of action in mind, I approached my car to drive to the town. Problem was, I didn't get very far. A large, locked gate prevented the tunnel entrance out of the outskirts and into the city. I was going to have to walk. "And why not", I asked myself, "I could use my annual exercise." Grabbing my map, I headed to the right of the tunnel where a sign led me to a path around the lake that would eventually take me to the city.

I didn't complain or anything but it did strike me as odd that a gate would be blocking one of the only ways out of the city. "It must be road construction or something." I reassured myself, but that didn't sit well. The news station that I was listening to before I got here didn't mention anything about a blocked road. Come to think about it, they said nothing about fog either.

"No, no", part of my mind assured me, "sometimes news anchors can be uninformed. As for weathermen, you never trusted those idiots anyway. Why believe them now?"

That did make sense; I was now at ease, almost smiling now as I jogged down the path. I was heading towards the cemetery that was, according to my map, en route to town. After awhile I saw a well, it looked really old-fashioned and was raised on a pedestal. Without even realizing it, or even thinking about it for that matter, I peered down. Even now I have no idea what I thought I would see. For all I know it could have been morlocks, but one thing is for sure, I didn't expect to see a red piece of paper at the bottom. Actually, it was more of a glowing crimson red, and that was weird all alone, but I got this strange sensation as well. It felt that someone was trying to grope around in my skull! And then I heard a voice, it seemed to be inside of me, yet it also sounded like it was coming from the outside of my head, trying to get in.

"Are you having a fun time running James? Having a fun time running away from the truth? Well you better run faster, James. You better run before the truth finds you! RUN!" I couldn't help myself but to obey, so I ran, ran away as fast as I could. Then after tiring myself out, I looked behind me and tried to seek the speaker. I could see nobody, I was alone.

"You were imagining things," I told myself, "there's no one here and you are just stressed out. Rest."

And so, after a few much-needed minuets of sit-time, I got up and walked the remaining distance to the cemetery gates. I opened the rusted door and it creaked really loud. It now occurred to me that up until now there was no noise, insects, or anybody encountered. It wasn't summer but there should be at least _some_ kind of life, right? The town was a resort for crying out loud!

No, I take that back. Staring down at a new-looking tombstone was a dark-haired young woman. I was so happy about finally meeting someone that I guess I crept up to quietly, because when I spoke she got very defensive, frightened even.

"Excuse me I"- she interrupted me at this point.

"I, I'm sorry! I was just"-she stammered like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Um, I'm trying to find Silent Hill. Am I going the right way? I'm kind of lost."

This seemed to calm her down a little bit, except now she was confused.

"Lost?" She said with a very puzzled look. Clearly, she was the lost one in this conversation.

"Yes, is this the right road?"

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to see with all this fog, but you're going the right way. There's just the one road, you can't miss it."

"Thanks" I replied as I headed to the city.

"Wait!"

I turned to her, surprised by her sudden out-burst.

"Yes?"

"I don't think you should go." She paused and seemed deep in thought. Out of courtesy I stayed, letting her collect her thoughts. "This town (pause) there's something (pause) 'wrong' with it. It's kind of hard to explain-"

"Is it dangerous?" I said, interrupting her. I hoped she was getting to the point.

"Maybe. And it's not just the fog. It's-

"Okay I understand, I'll be careful." I hoped I didn't come off as too rude. Yet rude or not, I wanted to get going from Miss Babble.

"I'm not making this up!" She insisted.

"No, I believe you. It's just that I don't really care if it's dangerous or not. I'm going to town either way." From my earlier statements and the nickname, you might have gotten the gist that I was lying, but I still didn't want to make her feel that I thought she was insane. The second part was true, however. I really _did _come here to see about this 'Mary' situation. And it was going to take more than some fog to scare me away. I didn't know of course, that somehow Miss Babble knew that there really was something going on and although she may have not known it herself, she was trying to warn both us. I would soon find out the hard way that she was telling the truth in a dead-end alley. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My determination must have sparked her curiosity because she asked-

"But why?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Who, who is it?

"My wife, she is someone that I would do anything to be with again.

She nodded her head in agreement. "I'm looking for someone too. My mama- I mean my _mother. _Gosh, it's been so long since I've seen her."

"Well I hope you find her. I have to go now, good luck.

She said farewell and I walked away from her, determined to find the answer to my problem and get some peace when Miss Babble called out to me again.

"Uh mister, you're going the wrong way. Silent Hill is the other way."

With my thoughts broken I looked at the gate ahead of me. Sure enough, it looked exactly like the one I entered through. That was due to the fact that it _was_ the gate that I entered through. Feeling not just a little embarrassed, I faced Miss Babble who was now smiling a little as she indicated the correct direction to the city. I muttered something that hopefully sounded like a "thank you" and went the 'correct' way. Miss Babble went back to grave looking very deep in thought as I opened the gate. Again, they creaked loudly, yet in the distance, I could hear a buzzing sound.

It wasn't until a few minuets of jogging that I finally came across the source of the noise. Embedded in a stack of logs was a chainsaw, which, of course, was left on. Judging by the burn marks in the wood, it had been left alone like this for a fairly long time.

"What kind of idiot leaves machinery like this laying around? That's very dangerous, someone could get hurt," I said as I reached out to turn it off.

"It took me several minuets to get here. And those burn marks? Whoever was using this isn't on a little bathroom break." Again I was struck by the unsettling thought that except for the woman in the cemetery, I hadn't met anybody. There was no life, as if the inhabitants, human or not, have forsaken the place. For the most part, I was wrong. Unfortunately, it was the "not human" category that was still around. But again, I am getting ahead of myself.

I reached a concrete tunnel and jogged through, slightly puzzled about the massive amounts of litter. "They have a poor garbage clean-up crew here." I thought as I came out the other end. Breathing hard, I checked my map. I raised my head and grinned to the sky, for I had done it, I reached Silent Hill on foot without having a stroke. Hooray for me. My adventure was almost over, or so I thought. In this warped version of reality, I was just getting through the introduction.

"Hello! Is anybody here? Is there anybody even alive? Free Willy!" I shouted these things and a few inappropriate words hoping to get a response, but alas, I got none. Not even from some old lady taking a stroll. "I don't get it!" I ranted, "are they at Bob's Diner for half-priced chicken wings and beer?" I stomped the ground in petty frustration and confusion. This got me nothing but a sore foot. This place was a ghost town, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I remembered my high school days where in history we studied legends. It was back in the colonial days when supposedly an entire village disappeared without a trace. I found the topic intriguing, but I never believed in it. Anyway, as the legend goes, nobody has solved the mystery.

"That's absurd," I thought to myself, "that was a legend, surely nothing like that could- oh my God!" At the intersection of Sanders and Lindsey Street, I saw a large mass of blood.

These were huge streaks of blood. And that's not the worst of it either, oh no, there was a trail of blood leading up to a flagpole where a body was impaled. The face twisted in permanent pain. "Oh my God." That was all I could think about for a few minuets. After repeating that phrase for about a hundred times, I began to have more chilling thoughts.

"Forget the lack of people issue, this is one hell of a twisted problem, no, _city_! The blood was dry, so that meant that like the chainsaw, this has been like this for a fairly long time, several hours to say at the very least.

"How come nobody has done anything?" I was suddenly aware of the possibility that the murderers who did this killed the entire town, or at least some of it and everyone was lying low.

I flopped down on the ground as if expecting a spray of bullets to fly over my head. When none came, I stood up. Killers or no killers, people or no people, the city was far to quiet. I think I now know how this city got its name. No, wait, I take that back, up ahead to my right was a clomping sound. I turned just in time to see a figure disappear into the fog. I didn't get much of a good look at it, but with what I did see, it was obvious that it was someone severely wounded, or horribly deformed. "Hey!" I yelled to the mystery figure, but it was lost in the fog. "Must think that I'm one of the killers." I decided to give chase. With any luck, I could help the person, escort him/her back to the graveyard where hopefully Miss Babble would still be there to give us a hand. We would then get into my car or Miss Babble's (which ever is closest), and we would go to the nearest police station. Get them over here and find out what the hell happened. I prayed that this wasn't some Columbine or Oklahoma City Massacre because after Mary died (and that nice flag substitute), I didn't want to deal with any more death.

I took off running at top speed, yet careful as to not alert any unwanted attention (mainly psychopaths with guns) to where I saw the survivor disappear. I didn't have to wonder where. A large bloody arrow showed me the way. "My God, how much blood has he lost?" I wondered as I ran down the alley and into a grassy area. Construction was obviously going on. That was until everyone left the city. I then thought of my mysterious quarry. For a wounded person, he sure evaded me pretty quickly. I finally got to the end of the alley.

Peering in, I made a startling discovery; there was no one inside. "Great, now even the wounded are disappearing." It was impossible, people just don't- my train of thought was interrupted by a rustling noise. Something was inside, and it was hiding. Slowly, I lifted my foot and maneuvered my body into the blocked-off dead-end. I examined my surroundings closely now. There was a radio, a few traffic cones, a corpse, a couple of wooden planks- a corpse!

Corpse number two wasn't much better than the first one. It wasn't impaled, but the body looked, damn it, was so disgusting, like it was partially melted. "Well it's been nice, but I have to leave now, it's been great, but I have to shove off for a place that is normal and not with dead people strewn around like lawn ornaments." I turned around to exit when the radio spurred to life. It didn't give any music, or crappy talk shows, instead it gave static, and I mean this radio was spewing it out like there was simply no tomorrow.

The rustling sound started up again too, only this time it was accompanied by a low moan. This got my full attention. I tried to find it, and boy did I find _it. _My supposed survivor, the one that I planned to rescue, was a monster. I cannot describe the amount of shock I felt. I can describe the creature at least.

From a distance, it really did look like a human, but close up; you could tell it was a thing from Hell, or at least the land of B-grade movie rejects monsters. It had no eyes, but seemed to see me quiet fine. As for arms, there were none, well, at least usable ones. They were somehow bound to the chest, which made it seem that the monster was sporting a straight jacket. Its legs were deformed, yet sturdy. I saw it stand up completely, its chest rising like a balloon.

I didn't know what it was doing, but I wasn't in the mood to find out. I backed up, until I tripped and landed on my rear end, I was now helpless, and the fact that the monster understood this didn't tip the odds in my favor.

"Oh God please don't let me die! Not in an alley with a corpse and this freak of nature!" And then I got my hands on one of the planks that boarded the passageway. An idea came to me. I never was much of a fighter, and if this thing really could spray acid, my chances of living where pretty slim. But if I had a chance, I was going to exploit it. I pulled hard, tightening my fingers around my new club, and I slammed it into the monster's face. Amazingly, it went down without a grunt.

I couldn't believe that I won. I killed the thing and I was still standing. I then felt guilty about killing it. But I had only one option. The radio remained unchanged as it still gave off its sympathy of static. "What's wrong with that radio?" I asked nobody. It looked like nobody was going to provide an answer. I was about to leave when I felt something hit my foot, hard.

It looked like I didn't kill the monster after all. Lying down face-first was the creature; somehow it was able to crawl at an incredible fast speed with its feet, despite the fact that they were deformed. "You should have crawled away!" I yelled as I brought the wooden weapon down. This time, I used the side that had nails on it, and I was aiming for the head. You can bet on it that I killed it. After I gave the thing a swift kick to the side, the radio stopped giving off static.

Feeling curious, I picked up the radio and started fiddling with the frequency dial. "Who knows," I muttered, "maybe I can get 101.1 the River." I didn't get any music or talk shows, but I did get some thing very bizarre. I was just about to give up when I heard a voice, not just any voice, it was _Mary's_ voice (remember her? She's supposed to be dead). The reception was really bad so I only heard fragments of what was being said.

"James! I'm at (static and something that has a 's' in it) did you (even more static and something with a 'k' in it) hurry James!" The transmission ended and I was left shocked and confused. I ran my fingers over the dial, turning it around, trying to get the reception back. It was a lost cause, but I did find a note. "I'll meet you at Neely's Bar" was written on a piece of paper attached to the rear of the radio via piece of tape. "Neely's? Oh, that horrible looking bar that Mary and I almost ate at once but was too dirty to stand. She once told me that the world would end before she would sit at that place again. There was irony in that statement, it also seemed appropriate, the world was indeed ending. Maybe I would find Mary there after all.

I was now heading to the bar (I still remembered where it was) with my new radio, which was blaring, in my pocket. Once again, it was playing static, the anthem of insanity. This didn't bother me, no not in the least. I had monsters to deal with instead. Two of them were approached me, but I easily evaded them by running on to the other side of the streets. I turned a corner of the street and paused to catch my breath. There didn't seem to be any monsters in sight, which made this spot relatively safe. My radio begged to differ, spewing more static than usual. "What's wrong with you now?" I asked it. In reply, a shriek came from under the van. Shooting out at super-sonic speed, a monster pulled itself to its feet.

As much as I would like to say that I killed it, I still have to say that I ran away. I didn't want to waste anymore time and energy killing things that I didn't need to. I did at least learn two things: 1. The creatures were smart enough to hide from me. 2. Somehow, there was a connection between these things and my radio. I don't know how or why, but at least I'll be one step ahead of the freaks. Provided of course, that they didn't swarm me like the next corpse ahead of me.

Like the last two victims, the body was mutilated in terms of overly-violent and insane, the victim here was so badly disfigured that the only reason I knew it was once human was because it wore clothing, which was melting away. Still excited by their kill, the group (about six of them) decided to add me to their track record.

I would like to take the time right now to remark to you that I am no James Bond. I do not have a crap load of guns and ammo at my disposable. The truth was that I had a stick (and a breaking one at that) with a few nails stuck in it. This is not a satisfactory weapon. I also admit that I am definitely not in the best of physical shape. I could run past one or two with no problem, but six and the two behind me, they would out-run and mob me in seconds. I would end up like that puddle of a human lying on the ground.

Summing things up, it seemed that I had two options: one of course, was stupid and obvious, this I would avoid, the second was to circle around the block and hope the creatures would miss me. This was a good plan, but there was no guarantee that I wouldn't run into other groups. There was also the fact that, according to the map, I would have to cover a lot of ground to get back on track.

"Better than being melted." I mumbled as I turned around.

I would still run into a few of those straightjacketed monsters (which I decided to call "spatters" because of the acid they release), but I was wrong about traveling the whole block. On the wall where the van was that the spitter was hiding beneath, I saw a ladder. I still had to kill the monster, but it saved me a good few minuets and possibly saving me from killing more of the bastards. The bad new was that my only weapon was showing signs of extreme wearing. It wasn't going to last much longer, and with me defenseless, I wasn't going to last longer either.

On the roof I got a good bird's-eye view of the city. Oddly enough, except for the population of humans replaced by spitters (and all of the dead bodies that I could see), there was no sign of a disaster. No fires, no ruined buildings, nothing. "This is one bizarre situation." I stated as I scanned the buildings below. I then saw the building that I was seeking: Neely's, or at least a sign of it anyway, but I was close. Trouble was, the monsters were closer. I still need to get to the bar. What waited inside, I didn't know, maybe Mary, some survivors, an alien, but it was the only hint that I had and was therefore a priority. I finally came up with a plan. Using the close-up memory of the monster that I encountered only a few minuets ago, I remembered that they didn't have eyes, which made them blind. The way I figured was if I could distract the monsters away from the store, I could sneak in unnoticed. It seemed like a swell idea, but I could be wrong, or, they would find me and corner me on the rooftop. This was not to my liking. Come to think of it, none of this whole situation was.

Using the stealth skills that I picked up from playing Metal Gear Solid, I hefted up a rock that was light enough to throw far, yet large enough to make a decent amount of noise. As a target, I picked the windshield of a pick-up truck that was parked several buildings down. Using my best skill (luck), I tossed the stone through the window, a direct hit! The car alarm announced my victory like a hockey buzzer. In fact, it announced it just a wee bit too loud. Its volume level clearly must have been set somewhere between "let's wake the dead" and "kill some eardrums." At least in the silence it was that loud. The monsters were driven away from the building, so my effort wasn't wasted. Now all I had to do was get back down. Okay, there was the ladder that I used to get up here, a fold-up ladder that was standing one store away from the bar, or my magical carpet. Option number three didn't exist; the first option meant that I would have to backtrack, so this left me with option number _dos_, using the fold-up ladder.

"I can't believe that I'm actually doing this." I said as I got on my knees and turned around. Of course, it was less than thirty minuets ago that I didn't believe in monsters capable of taking over entire cities. Wow, was it really that long ago? Your perception of time is just a little messed up once your view of reality has been utterly turned upside down. Ah, I'm getting off track again. Hanging, yup that's right, hanging onto a gutter with my hands, I used my feet to guide me to the top of the ladder. It took a bit, but luck gave me its strength.

Whenever I could, I ducked down behind a car and made sure my radio was off. I knew all too well that the monsters weren't deaf, so I didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. I was moving at an incredibly slow pace, which made the thirty-feet walk to the bar feel like a hike to New York from Los Vegas. Just as I imagined, the bar was a run-down, shabby-looking joint that had newspaper covering every inch of window space, bordering a rooting and battered yet strong door. My, I was never so glad to see such a filthy place like this until now.

My good mood dried up as I opened the door and found nobody inside. With the windows blocked by the curtain of newspaper, only a small amount of sunlight came in, but enough to show me that except for a map and a spray can, this place was empty. "But why? Why did someone leave that radio behind"- I suddenly stopped as I recalled the body outside. Then I shook my head. For all I knew, that radio could have been in that alley for ten years. Maybe a time when this place obeyed the health regulations. That spray can and map where starting to look quite interesting. On the map, all the streets leading directly out of the city were crossed out. At the end of Martin Street was a question mark. And to the left of that was a line that went through the Wood Side Apartments.

"So now they want me to go through the apartments. Why can't these people just stay in one place?" I picked up the spray can, the next item of interest, which I would soon learn that it did not hold much interest for me. Just looking at it you could not guess that it was any different than the other kinds of spray cans. The only real difference was the lack of a label. I didn't like the idea of using something I knew nothing about, but this spray could be used as a mace, or perhaps a flamethrower if a lighter was acquired. With my stick at the breaking point, I really didn't have the luxury of being picky with weapons. No matter how lame.

There was nothing else here. Next stop: Wood Side Apartments.

With my stick and spray can in my right hand, I opened the door with my left. Outside, I saw a monster. I probably didn't have time to get my stick ready, so I choose my spray can, dropping the former. I hoped that whatever toxic chemicals inside the can would stop the monster quickly. As it turned out, it only took a little to do its work. The problem, it worked well on _both_ of us. Those environmentalist nuts were right; DEET does affect all life forms.

The monster (another spitter) and I were both coughing up a storm. I used the time to bend down and retrieve my breaking, but non-toxic-gas-spewing-weapon from the ground. To buy me more time, I slammed the bottom of the worthless can unto the monster's head. I was short one weapon now, but I wasn't going to be hurt by it.

The fumes left me dizzy, weak, and careless. For two city blocks I stumbled, coughed, and said a whole lot of vulgar things that would put Adam Sandler to shame. On the plus side, I made it to Martin Street without interruption from the spitter monsters. Up to this day I still don't know how I managed to not encounter any of those freaks. Maybe it was because they moved around, or maybe I was lucky as hell. Either way, my venture to the street was uneventful.

Not wanting to take any chances that the monsters would come back, I ran to the end of the alley street. I quickly daydreamed about what I would find in the dead-end street. "A few military officers will be there. Each one holding an assault rifle and plenty of ammo. The main attack force is still waiting for the go ahead from the Pentagon. When the army does get the green light, tanks will come, shooting the crap out of the monsters. During the mop-up with shock troopers, they will come across Mary. Mary and I will be reunited. Finally, cake and ice cream will be served in the mess hall once we get back to the base. Oh yeah, they'll have a hot tub to boot.

It was a comforting thought, but I'll be damned if any of that happens in the immediate future. I would gladly accept anything I could get. A few machine guns, or just a damn clue about what was going on. Any option will do.

I got none of the above. It was just another dead, disfigured body slumped against the fence, rotting in the sun. Yeah, I definitely hate surprises now. "Just perfect," I muttered, "another corpse. They should rename this place Corpse City. No, on second thought, Silent Hill is still a decent name. After all, it's on a hill and it's very silent on account of all"-

I trailed off as I finally saw something shine in the sunlight. Resting in the out-stretched hand of the formerly living being. Touching dead people was never a hobby of mine, but I needed that object. This could be what I was sent here for. I took it, in my hand now was a key. A key for the Wood Side apartment complex.

I smiled grimly as I thought about my good fortune of coming to this place first instead of going to the apartment. I could see me trying to get in, but couldn't, the locked door stopped my entrance. I then saw a large group of those things walk towards me; their chests bulged as a deadly payload of acid was squirted in my direction. With brilliant detail, I saw my skin melt away, leaving a flood of red. But that wasn't as bad as still being alive. All the while I was screaming in pain, begging God that- "Quit it," I said, scolding myself, "you're not melting, you're not surrounded by spitters, and now that you have this key, you certainly won't be locked out.

Very quickly I started to feel better. The fact that there was something useful here after all fueled my hope that someone was helping me. That I wasn't alone in this nightmare. It did bother me that my benefactors didn't leave all these tools together; instead, they wanted me to run around almost the whole downtown to find this crap. Then again, I'm sure there were reasons. I just hoped I would be finding these reasons out sooner than later. I checked the map for the location of the apartments. They were on Katz St.

"Looks like coffee break is over." I muttered as I saw a group of spitters standing in front of what looked like the apartment gate. Several more were wondering listlessly in the street.

It seemed that once again my karma caught up to me. This definitely might have had something to do with all those porn magazines I looked at as a teenager. Damn, my parents always told me that I would pay for my sins, and boy did they seem right.

I kept my radio off to keep it from giving away my position. With my eyes still locked onto the nearest demon, I picked up a rock and flung it as far as I could away from my target area. The monsters, lacking the ability of sight, started after it. The race was on.

I ran. Ran as fast and as hard as I damn well could. Pumping my arms as hard as I could for extra speed. Try as I could, the apartment still seemed a million miles away from me. Matters weren't improved much when something tripped me. The world flew towards my face. This wouldn't be the last time I fell. I hit the ground hard, but that wasn't all that bad, what was bad was the fact that the spitters were closing in. I could tell that from the way they moved their mouths that they were hungry. Hungry for a James Sunderland sandwich. I on the other hand, felt obligated to make them starve.

I pushed my self up and ran as fast as I could. Again. I wasn't going as fast as I had been going; the ache in my lungs and the fall fatigued me. But none of those made me stop. Just like I imagined earlier, I saw myself being melted, eaten, bitten, all kinds of torture. I could have sworn I reached mach speed at this point.

I got to the entrance gate of the fence, the lock gleaming in the sun. I was once again very grateful that I got the key before I came here. It saved my life, no doubt about it. With a hand so wet with sweat you would think it had been in a sauna for an hour, I took the key out of my pocket. The monsters were coming. I was nervous and scared as hell. With every miss of the lock, the monsters came closer, closer! I could see myself melting from their acid- _click_; the lock released its bind.

I couldn't believe it! I got the gate open! I raced up the stairs in what felt like a single bound. I was at the front door. I made it; sanctuary was just a few inches of wood away. I opened the door; ready to leap in when I remembered that I left the gate open. I spun automatically, mentally kicking myself for being so stupid. The monsters could be-

"Standing with their mouths hanging open?" I asked no one in particular. I couldn't believe it, not one of the creatures had followed me through the open gate, instead, they where lined-up and shaking- that's right, my friends, _shaking _in fear. Not from me of course, but I could tell that in the bowels of the apartment complex rested something that scared the crap out of them. Something that they could sense, something that I could sense. And from what they were telling me, I was not going to have a very merry meeting with it. On the other hand, it wasn't that I had any alternatives. The only other route to the lake was through a door that had "this door only opens in dark" written on it. Which meant that I was going to have to use this route given to me. Oh, and let's not forget that that door was guarded by several other spitters. They may be afraid of whatever was in the complex, but in their minds, I was still lunch.

I made a quick mental prayer that this wouldn't be a regretful choice. That I would find Mary/military people/important items and survive. I sighed once again and entered the apartment complex.

Footnotes.

Hello there, I would just like to take the opportunity to thank you for reading my fan fic. I'm sure that there are several things that you might be wondering about. First, there is the amount of humor in the story. Rest assured that the jokes will become fewer as the story progress. As far as the rating goes, I see no good reason as to why I should have it in the "R" section. Some other things that you still might wondering about (why James hears "voices") will be explained at the end. If you feel obligated, ask questions and they will be answered promptly. Lastly, we have reviews. Typically, I feel that out-right asking people to review stories is something I see as shameless and self-serving. However, since this is one of the only fan fics that I'm actually putting effort into, I would like to know if my efforts are being rewarded. I would like at least a review a chapter. Well, that is all. Good day.

Copyright 

Another product of the Earl McFlanders Corporation.


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